


White Coats

by courageandcheer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, M/M, Mention of a child death, Mild Language, blood warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-10 07:41:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/courageandcheer/pseuds/courageandcheer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first day of internships at Troust General Hospital, and the interns have no idea what they're getting themselves into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Dermatology?” the freckled man in front of him repeated.

Jean’s lips curled downward. He gritted his teeth and stopped himself from scowling. He could hear echoes of the same incredulous expression from his friends, his professors in medical school, and his parents. Their voices spread out like ripples in the still waters of his mind. He didn't feel like responding, but the guy was blocking the auditorium door. There was no way to escape this conversation apart from turning around and walking in the opposite direction.

“What’s it to you?” he replied, careful to give no hint of his inner turmoil. He crossed his arms, aggravating the creases near the elbows of his white lab coat.

“I just didn’t think that someone would come to the top hospital in the country to study dermatology, that’s all,” he said with an apologetic smile.

“I’ll be getting paid top dollar to look at pimples,” Jean said, his eyes still narrowed slightly as he scrutinized the other man. His gaze drifted over the crests of his high cheek bones and the point of his nose. He lingered on his hair, inky black and parted in the center, as he said, “I’ll be living the dream.”

“Someone has to do it, I guess,” the other man said, his smile unwavering. His right arm remained curled around the black plastic clipboard pressed to his chest while extended his left hand. “My name's Marco.”

In a sneaky movement that he hoped Marco wouldn’t notice, he swiped his palms, which had been sweaty from the moment he left his apartment this morning, on the sleeves of his lab coat as he uncrossed his arms. He feigned straightening his sleeves to cover for himself.

“Jean,” he said. He affected an unamused drawl as they clasped hands. “Let me guess. Neurology?”

The comment provoked a laugh from Marco. “Cardiology,” he said. “Well, hopefully.”

Jean could feel himself internally recoil as he withdrew his hand. He thought of his class of fifty aspiring doctors at medical school. All the bastards who thought they were better than everyone else wanted to be heart surgeons. But this guy didn’t seem to possess the same air of haughty arrogance as the rest of them.

“Good luck with that,” he said with a shrug. He wished he could wager on whether or not this intern would even make it to residency. He had been through medical school and he still had the ability to smile. He wouldn’t last a week.

“Should we get going to orientation?” Marco asked. He tilted his head toward the auditorium door. “We wouldn’t want to be late on our first day.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jean said. Since he was closer, Marco stopped to hold the door open for Jean and motioned for him to go in ahead of him.

They followed the carpeted path into the auditorium, which led them directly to the front of the tiered rows of seats. White-coated interns were scattered in the first ten rows, but there were still a few spots where red velvet visibly indicated a free seat. They stood side by side for a moment, trying to decide where to go.

“Where should we sit?” Marco wondered.

Jean had to bite his tongue from telling the other intern to fuck off. As far as he was concerned, nine in the morning was much too early to have to put with this friendly shit. But having an ally around here might come in handy. “Anywhere but the front row,” he said.

“Noted.”

A symphony of voices swelled around them as they climbed the stairs.

Marco found them two spots right in the sixth row. Marco motioned for him to move in first, and they shuffled to move to the free seats without stepping on any toes. But Jean encountered a barrier in the form of a two legs completely blocking the way to the two seats that Marco had pointed out.

“Excuse me,” he said with a pointed glance toward the offending legs.

The smaller man splayed out in the seat looked at Jean with a challenge burning in his eyes. He moved his legs out of the way in a slow exaggerated movement, as if he was trying to prove some kind of point. Jean fell down in his seat with a huff, while Marco situated himself in the next seat over.

“The fuck was that guy?” he said, not caring whether or not he could be heard from three seats away.

“Eren Jaeger,” Marco said with a disapproving shake of his head.

Jean opened his mouth to say something else, but the overhead lights dimmed slightly to signal for their attention. Two men mounted the three steps on the right side of the stairs. The first was extremely tall, while the other one came up to about the height of his sternum.

Boots scuffing on the stage was the only sound in the auditorium. The reflection of the footlights attached to the rim of the stage could be seen in the polished black leather curving over the top of their feet.

The shorter one spoke first. “Two months from now, only twenty five of you will still be sitting here.” Jean could hear Marco’s breath catch in his throat.

The bored expression on his face did not change at all when he spoke. He seemed to want them to understand that he had better things to do and those things didn't include standing on a stage lecturing interns. Jean had the fleeting thought that he would get along with this man.

“I’m Levi and this is Erwin. We’re your supervisors,” he continued. The blonde man at his side nodded slightly as he was introduced. Only the slightest suggestion of a smirk appeared as the corner of his mouth twisted upward no more than a millimeter. “Don’t screw up and we’ll be fine.”

As soon as Levi read out everyone’s assignments, the orientation meeting concluded. Jean stood up and rolled his shoulders as he waited for the row to file out. The buzz of small talk resumed as the interns set out to begin their day.

“Levi seems to really like to scare interns,” Marco observed. 

Jean cranked his head over his shoulder and smiled. “I like him.”

* * *

Jean stood slightly off to the side of his group of interns with his arms crossed, sizing up the people he’d have to work with for the foreseeable future. He suppressed the urge to scowl again as he noticed the Jaeger kid joining the circle designating his group. He was joined by another shorter girl whose sleek black hair was tucked behind her ears.

The lobby with the other interns gradually emptied until they were the only group left. Low chatter mixed with the sound of the clock ticking on the wall. Several in their group attempted to feign nonchalance, but Jean noticed unmistakable signs of impatience. A girl with bright red hair shifted her weight from her left foot to her right and a guy with a horrendous buzz cut checked his watch at fifteen second intervals.

“Well, what are you standing there for? You’re already late for your rounds,” barked a voice behind them. Jean wasn’t sure where he’d come from. He had been watching the doors of the auditorium, expecting for their resident to walk out that way.

They pressed closer to the resident, as if magnetized. One particularly brave person, the one with the bad haircut and the tic of watch-checking, had the audacity to voice a question. “Aren’t you going to ask our names?” he wondered.

Levi didn’t even flinch. Jean thought he might have been two seconds away from rolling his eyes. “I don’t care what your name is. From now on you'll be assigned a number.”

He walked down the line that the group had unconsciously formed in his presence, as if he was a military commander instead of a hospital resident. He assigned each one a number as he passed, his gravelly voice reverberating off the walls. His gaze lingered on Jean as he enunciated the number seven.

“From now on, you answer to your number. When I page you, you run. When I say jump, you say how high. Any questions?”

The line was completely silent, even bad haircut boy, who had apparently learned his lesson.

“Let’s get going,” he said. He spun on his heel and walked with such long strides that they all had to do a hasty speed walk to keep up with him. They all struggled to hide their breathlessness after he had led them up four flights of stairs at a breakneck speed to the general surgery floor. Apparently he didn’t think they were worthy enough to use the elevator. Jean thanked his lucky stars that he had kept up an exercise regimen during med school, otherwise the steep climb up the stairs might have exhausted him before he actually began to work.

Levi extended his hand as they passed the nurse’s station and a stack of charts materialized in his palm. Jean started to understand that there was a carefully structured system already in place at this hospital. His challenge would be to operate in it without causing too much of a disturbance.

The first case of the day was a patient on the opposite end of the ward. Levi held the charts hostage, dumping them with a thump on the patient’s nightstand. He cracked open the first one and scanned the chart before calling out the symptoms.

“What’s your diagnosis, three?” he inquired without looking up. Three, the girl with flaming red hair, scrambled to scrape together an answer. The blood rushed to her face. She obviously was not expecting to be asked anything. After five seconds of spluttering, Levi cut her off by saying, “Four?”

“Gastrointestinal pain with those symptoms could be an indicator of colon cancer,” the man next to her said.

“Wrong.” He still hadn’t looked up. “These interns are incompetent,” he said to the patient. She was a middle aged woman with her face screwed up in pain.

“It’s actually - ” Eren started to say.

“Did I ask for your opinion,” Levi interrupted, shifting his gaze from the patient to the intern. It was a spoken harshly, leaving no room for it to be interpreted as a question. Eren blew his breath out through his nose, chastised. The girl beside him seemed as calm as she did in the lobby earlier. Jean prayed that he wouldn’t get called on.

Levi led them through the rest of the charts in his stack without calling on him once. At the conclusion of their rounds, they formed a line again in front of the desk that served as the nurse’s station.

“When I stand in front of you, I want you to tell me your desired specialty,” he said. He clasped his hands behind his back and faced sideways so that he could walk down their line. The first two in line both said general surgery, while Jaeger said trauma and his friend said neurology. Levi kept his gaze forward as he continued. When he reached the end of the line and Jean said dermatology in the steadiest voice he could manage, Levi stopped walking. His shoes squelched on the tiled flooring as he turned to face Jean directly.

“Is this a joke?” he asked. Jean shrunk back under the intensity of his gaze. 

“No, sir,” he said firmly. He wished he felt more confident, but he felt as though a fracture had appeared in his resolve. 

“Do yourself a favor and find a real specialty.” Without another word, Levi strode off to the surgery he had scheduled for noon, leaving them with a free hour for their lunch break. Jean felt safe to exhale as soon as Levi rounded the corner.

He watched as the other interns filed toward the elevator. He secretly hoped Levi would be waiting to reprimand them when they got off. He elected for the stairs and was just headed in that direction when he was approached by one of the nurses. Her scrubs were bright blue and decorated with a pattern of giraffes.

“Take this to pediatrics,” she said. She was gone again before Jean had a chance to protest. He readjusted his grip on the chart and hustled to the stairway before he was handed another chart.

He made the stop on the third floor and deposited the chart with the nurses there. They smiled warmly at him and thanked him. One of the women with blonde hair that hung in a braid over her shoulder asked if it was his first day. He opened his mouth to say something back to them, but he was distracted by the giggling of a small child in the waiting room off to his left.

When he turned to investigate the source of the noise, he saw the man he had met earlier sitting with a young child. They both sat cross-legged on a rug designed in a way that made it look like a collection of mismatched puzzle pieces. He was momentarily annoyed by the notion that some interns were allowed to play with children when he had to deal with a hellish resident all morning.

Jean couldn’t even remember his name. He only remembered that he had wanted to work in cardiology. With the whirlwind of patients and nurses and other interns, the name seemed to have vanished. It didn’t help that he had discarded his white coat on one of the vacant waiting room chairs, which left him no hope of cheating with his name tag.

But then he noticed Jean staring at him and smiled. He tapped the younger girl on her knee and motioned at him. They both waved and he looked positively radiant with the sun from the waiting room window streaming over his shoulder and highlighting his black hair. 

Something inside of Jean softened at the sight. The man motioned him over and patted the floor beside him. Jean found himself walking over without consciously deciding to do so. 

“I know you’re very busy, but I want you to meet my new friend,” he said.

Jean desperately wished he could remember his name.

“Jean, this is Kaylee,” he said. In response, Kaylee grinned. Her smile showed where she was missing one of her front teeth. Her dirty blonde hair fell in tight ringlets to her shoulders. “She’s really nervous about her surgery, but she brought a friend along with her to keep her company.”

“She did?” Jean said, attempting to play along without it seeming too cheesy. Patient interaction was always where he scored the lowest in his evaluations.

“She’ll need stitches after her surgery.” The freckled man then gestured to the teddy bear resting against Kaylee’s shoulder. “Her teddy bear needs stitches too.”

“He suggested it,” Kaylee chimed in.

Jean smiled. It was an honest to goodness smile, with no detectable sarcasm or amusement. He knew he was going to be thinking about the sunny waiting room and the teddy bear that needed stitches for a long time.

“I hope your surgery goes well,” he said. He caught the other intern’s eye. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“I’ll be right back,” he said to the child.

As soon as the two were a safe distance away, Jean lamented the fact that he still couldn’t remember his goddamn name.

“I was wondering if you need someone to help you sew the teddy bear?”

“You don't think I can do stitches on a stuffed animal?” he replied. Jean had to resist the urge to slap his forehead. _Stupid_.

“No, I just thought… well - ” he stuttered. For once in his life he was at a loss for words. He wasn’t even sure why he had asked the question in the first place.

Jean was surprised when he got his answer. “It would be nice to have an extra hand.”

“Okay. Just, um, tell me when.”

“I will. Also, I’d love to hear how your first day is going. Let me just go say goodbye to Kaylee first.”

Jean sighed in relief over the fact that he had bought himself a few extra seconds to figure out his name. He made a beeline to the receptionist sitting at the desk. She stared at him over the purple rims of her square-framed glasses.

“Can I help you?” she said. She had no inflection in her voice; it was nothing more than a monotone.

Jean tried to play it cool. 

“What’s the name of the doctor with the freckles and the black hair?” he asked. He hoped he was projecting confidence and not the desperation that he truly felt.

The receptionist looked at him for ten seconds in complete silence. “Why are you wasting my time?”

“I just really need to know,” Jean pleaded. “Please?”

“He said it was Marco,” she said after a moment. Jean had known that it started with an _M_. “Now get out of here!” she said as she slammed shut the chart she was examining.

“Marco,” he repeated to himself, savoring the way that the name rolled off his tongue.

“That’s me,” said a voice behind him. “Need something?”

Jean didn’t have the heart to tell him that he couldn't remember his name up until that moment. But after this everything that had happened, he knew he wouldn’t forget it again.

“Have you eaten lunch yet?”

* * *

It took twenty minutes to navigate the queue that had formed in the cafeteria. The line was mostly compromised of interns tapping their feet impatiently and repeatedly checking their pagers.

“I didn’t know there was such a lunch rush,” Marco said as they finally made their way through the line and to a recently vacated table. Jean snatched a napkin from a dispenser attached to an adjacent table to clean up a smudge of ketchup left on his side.

“So, do you like your group?” Marco wondered. He pushed around the lettuce in his salad in an attempt to spread the dressing around.

“You’ll never believe it,” Jean said as he shoved a handful of fries in his mouth. He instantly regretted it when he realized the fries were cold. He should have known. But he wasn’t sure if the bad taste in his mouth was only from his lunch. “Jaeger was in my group.”

“Oh no,” Marco said. He politely shielded his full mouth with his hand. “But your resident is good?”

“Levi’s my resident,” Jean said with a wry smile. He thought that was enough information for Marco to draw his own conclusions.

“Sounds fun,” Marco said after he swallowed another mouthful of food.

“What about you?” Jean asked. He eyed the remainder of his lunch and wished he had been safe and ordered the salad like Marco. Wordlessly, Marco picked up the bright red apple on the edge of his tray and held it out to Jean. Their fingers brushed together as the apple changed hands.

Marco set his plastic silverware down, still thinking about how to answer the question. His first day on the job ended up being a lot harder than anything he was warned of during orientation. Of course there were all the things that they _say_ being a doctor would be and then all the things that it actually was. On paper, the job was all about commitment and logic and dedication to continually improving technique, but, in reality, it was mostly just a combination of blood and tears. He struggled for a way to put all of these thoughts into words. 

It didn’t help that his first assignment was in the emergency room.

He remembered the gurney rolling through the automatic glass doors and springing into action. He listened carefully to the paramedics bracketing each side of the gurney. He remembered grimacing at the blood splatter on the child’s torso.

“Drunk driver,” the paramedics reported. She held a bag of fluids in her hand. She shook her head to dislodge the brown bangs hanging in front of her eyes. “He coded twice on the way here.”

“Hey, little buddy,” he intoned. They were moving too quickly for him to touch the child yet. “We’re going to take really good care of you.”

The child merely blinked up at him. His head looked unusually small beneath the oxygen mask attached to his face. His wavy blonde hair was tinged with blood near his scalp.

They wheeled the child into the room and left Marco and the other interns to do their work. But three codes later, Marco knew the child wasn’t going to make it. A female intern near his elbow shoved the equipment into his hands again, but Marco merely shook his head. That much blood loss combined with a punctured lung and a heart that wouldn’t keep beating meant that the chance of survival was very low.

“We have to know when to stop,” he said, as the beeping of the machines became more desperate. She fell silent and watched with wide eyes as Marco took control of the room. He silently looked for the approval of his supervising resident. Understanding the question in his expression, she nodded once. “You know what to do,” was all she said.

Marco pulled up a stool with wheels attached to its bottom that had been shoved into the corner of the room to get it out of the way. It had wisps of stuffing poking through tears in the green leather coated the seat. Marco reached behind him to silence the machines that were screaming about the impending code. He didn’t turn his head to watch his fellow interns retreating out of the room.

He took the child’s hand and began to describe what he could see out of the window over his bed. He described the grass growing in the places where the asphalt was cracked outside. He glanced at the trees and noticed the sway of the branches. He tried to make his voice as soothing as the breeze outside. He could hardly see the child through his own tears as he reached out to smooth the boy’s hair over his forehead. He'd been told to report to pediatrics shortly thereafter.

“Marco?”

Marco blinked rapidly, trying to remember where he was.

“Sorry about that,” he said. He forced himself to focus. “My first shift was in the ER. It was a little rough. But peds was better.”

“Lots of blood?” Jean said, trying to lighten the mood.

“You have no idea.” Even though he still had half a salad left, he pushed it aside. He had no appetite now. He reminded himself to inhale. He slowly exhaled. Jean was scrutinizing him when he looked up again. His head was tilted off to one side, as if he was contemplating something.

But then Marco remembered how Jean had smiled when he had seen him with Kaylee and how he had looked happy to see him. Here he was now with his fingers curled around a steaming coffee cup with his fries all but abandoned.

Jean needed a way to change to subject and quickly. He sensed that something had happened, but it always took time before you could find the words to talk about it. “So, Levi told me to find a real specialty when I told him what I wanted to do. What the hell does everyone have against dermatology at this hospital?"

“You should listen to him,” Marco replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jean asked, his smile fading.

Jean expected a lecture about how residents always knew best. He'd been scolded that way several times before. But instead Marco said, “We both know you’re better than that.”

“We do?” he said dubiously.

“Yes. You’ll get bored looking at skin conditions all day," Marco shrugged. "Maybe you just haven’t found what you really want to do yet.”

“Maybe not,” Jean allowed.

“Don’t worry, you will!” Marco said. He reached over to rest his hand on top of Jean’s. Jean hoped that Marco didn’t notice him flinch. “I believe in you.”

And, for a split second, Jean almost believed in himself, too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this originally started out as a gift for idontreallyknowok, but then they offered to help me write it! They wrote this chapter. Happy reading! :)

It starts with a mistake.

“I’m sorry, but are you lost?” Erwin asks, stopping in the near empty hallway to talk to the person. The question is completely innocent, as he has no idea who this short stranger is.

“Excuse me?” the man scoffs, turning to look at Erwin. There’s a storm in him, visible when their eyes meet, brewing grey and threatening.  
  
“I was wondering if you were lost. Aren’t you one of the new interns?” Erwin questions, fingers playing with the pen in his pocket slightly nervously, pulling the cap off and pressing it back on, watching as the other man turns to him completely. His hands are clenched into fists.  
  
“Dr. Levi Rivaille. Graduate class of 2005 at Harvard. 4.0 GPA. Transferred from Cleveland Clinic to eventually be the head of the cardiology here.” He takes a shuddering breath, clearly calming himself. “So no, I am not lost.”  
  
Erwin, genuinely amused, smiles, and it obviously disarms the other man. “Then allow me to introduce myself. Dr. Erwin Smith, head of neurology.” He holds his hand out for Dr. Rivaille to take, and after a moment, the other obliges. “I’m sure we’ll grow to know each other quite well, Dr. Rivaille,” he says pleasantly, and goes to continue walking the way he was headed before their encounter.  
  
“It’s Levi,” the shorter man calls out after a moment, making Erwin stop and turn. “Just Levi.”  
  
Erwin smiles again, but it’s softer this time, and inclines his head before turning to walk away.  
  
 _Levi_.

* * *

At first they’re just colleagues, passing each other in the hallways and nodding at each other in acknowledgement, talking if they’re in line at the cafeteria at the same time, consulting each other about the interns from time to time. Neither of them know exactly how or when they become more than that, but they both know it happens slowly. Small touches from Erwin, well placed comments from Levi, the “coincidence” that their break times begin coinciding, their furtive, private conversations, heads leaned close together over coffee, and pretty much everyone except them knows that something is going on.

One day, Levi shows up on the neurology floor, where Erwin has been cooped up in his office for hours, trying to make a dent in the stack of papers he needs to fill out; requests for operating theatres, patient logs, it all piled up and Erwin is exhausted.  
  
There is a bang at the door, and then two more immediately after, and Erwin jumps up to let whoever is outside in before they break down the door.  
  
“Levi?” he says, surprised, as the smaller man slides in through the door and sits down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He puts down one of the giant cups of coffee in front of himself, and then reaches over to place the other steaming cup beside Erwin’s laptop.  
  
“I know you’re insufferable when you don’t get your coffee,” Levi says casually, watching attentively as Erwin goes to sit back down. Levi clears this throat and looks away. “Plus you didn’t show up at the usual time.”  
  
 _I see_ , Erwin thinks, and smiles. “Thank you,” he says, and when Levi only lifts a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug, he repeats himself. “Really, Levi. Thank you.”  
  
Levi looks at him, finally, watching with hawk-like precision as Erwin picks up his espresso, takes a ridiculously delicate sip for a man his size, and closes his eyes in bliss, swallowing. Levi’s breath hitches in his throat, just slightly, and Erwin catches it.  
  
Slowly, so slowly, Erwin puts his coffee down, and meets Levi’s eyes.  
  
“Levi,” he says, quietly. “Levi, what are you thinking?”  
  
Levi swallows hard, hands gripping the handles of the chair tightly, before he answers. “I want to kiss you.”  
  
It’s blunt and to the point and Erwin is smiling as he gets up and goes over to Levi, watching as the smaller man’s pupils widen as he stops in front of him. He reaches out, fingers brushing over Levi’s forehead, down his cheek, stopping under his chin to tilt his head up a little. Neither of them breaks eye contact as Erwin leans down and presses his lips against Levi’s. Both of them let their eyes slip shut as Levi tentatively runs his tongue along the seam of Erwin’s lips, slipping inside and tracing the back of Erwin’s teeth. Erwin pulls back then, and they’re both breathing heavy.  
  
They stay like that for a time, before Erwin straightens and goes back to his paperwork.  
  
“So what does this make us?” Levi asks finally, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled around them.  
  
“Well I doubt either of us has much time for dating,” Erwin reasons, and Levi hums in agreement. “How about we just see where this takes us?”  
  
The other man contemplates it briefly, before nodding slowly. “Yeah,” he says, and it’s the quietest Erwin has ever heard him. “Yeah, okay."

* * *

Months pass, and outwardly nothing really changes. Levi gets a new set of interns to baby-sit, and Erwin essentially goes about his daily business. Their relationship evolves, and they spend as much time as they together, meeting during their breaks, showing up in each other’s offices, just becoming closer.

But today is just one of those days. The consultation he had first thing in the morning went slowly, with not much progress being made, and he has weeks of forms to complete waiting for him in his office, which he barely made a dent in during the three hours he had set aside to work on it.  
  
 _I need this_ , he keeps repeating to himself as he seeks Levi out, chasing him down until he finds him surrounded by his flock of interns, but it doesn’t make him feel any less guilty.  
  
“Levi,” Erwin says as he strides up to him, authority in his voice despite their relatively equal rank in the hospital. “I need to speak with you.”  
  
Levi raises an eyebrow at him when he turns around, and he rolls his eyes. “Alright, just gimme a second. Let me give these kids their assignments,” he says, aiming for disgruntled, but Erwin catches the small smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.  
  
“Now shoo, I need to talk to Dr. Smith,” he finishes by saying, sending the youngsters scurrying off. He turns to Erwin, nods curtly at him, and leads him towards the elevators, and the ride up to the 6th floor is excruciating. Levi is so close, breathing steadily and practically vibrating with energy, and Erwin wants him so much.  
  
They walk briskly to Levi’s office, and Levi says something to his secretary about not seeing anyone for a bit, but Erwin is already opening the door and letting himself in. Levi follows, closing the door and locking it before shedding his white lab coat.  
  
“You’re a mess,” he says evenly, going over to Erwin and leading him to sit on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Erwin gives a lazy shrug in response, but it’s stiff. “You’re so tense, jeez. You don’t have to wait ‘till you’re a fucking time bomb, you know. You only have to ask, I’ll always be there to lend a hand.” Levi smirks as he says this, sliding fluidly into Erwin’s lap and kissing him solidly. Erwin’s hands snake over to grip Levi’s hips, holding tight they all but devour each other.  
  
“C’mon,” Levi says into the kiss, pulling away, but Erwin chases him desperately. “C’mon, fucker, let me show you my party trick.” Erwin reluctantly lets him go, watching as he sinks to his knees and goes about unzipping Erwin’s trousers. He wastes no time pulling Erwin’s cock out and going to town immediately, sucking hard on the tip and then diving down as far as he can go before pulling up and repeating the motions. Erwin gasps and moans quietly, biting his knuckles in an attempt to muffle his noises, and when Levi sinks down as far as he can go while staring straight into Erwin’s eyes, the latter comes, broken cries of “Levi!” breaking through his quiet, and he’s practically crying with the feeling of relief he gets.  
  
Levi swallows with a grimace, getting up and reaching to grab some hand sanitizer, but Erwin pulls him back into his lap and works the smaller man’s trousers open.  
  
“Erwin,” Levi gasps as Erwin grips his cock and pumps him exactly the way he loves. Erwin catches his lips, drinking in every gasp and moan and whimper he manages to pull from the other, and when Levi comes, he’s completely silent. They both sit there, panting into each other’s mouths, before Levi begins cleaning them off to the best of his ability.  
  
“Thank you, Levi,” Erwin says, stopping them at the door and holding Levi’s face in one of his large palms. “I love you.”  
  
Levi physically starts, eyes widening, before he composes himself and grabs Erwin’s shirt to pull him down into a kiss.  
  
“I love you too,” He says, and Erwin doesn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

* * *

Sometimes they argue. With their stressful workplace and perpetual lack of sleep, it isn’t surprising, but it still makes Erwin miserable.

He didn’t even know how it had started (he did), something about one of the cases he saw in the trauma room that day probably (definitely), but it quickly devolved into a shouting match that ended with Levi storming out of his apartment and hailing a cab to get home.  
  
 _You know you can talk to me about anything, you fucking know it. Trust is a two way street, Erwin._  
  
 _I just don’t want to talk about it, Levi. It’s not that I don’t trust you._  
  
 _Well you can’t just keep it all in!_  
  
 _Watch me._  
  
 _Look at that. It must be so much fucking fun for you, screwing around with people’s heads._

_Really? That’s rich, coming from the man who fucks with people’s hearts._

Levi had responded with an incoherent shout before snatching up his coat and slamming the door behind him. Erwin hasn’t seen him since, not even during their break, which worries him just a bit. He wallows for a while longer, sulking behind a cup of coffee before he gets up and decides to go and apologize to Levi. He searches for a while, and finds him in the ER with a few of his interns. One of the kids notices Erwin, and must tell Levi about his presence, because when Levi turns around he’s scowling. It gives Erwin the ridiculous desire to hide behind someone, but he stoically keeps going.  
  
“Levi, can I talk to you?” he asks quietly, and Levi seems to be seriously debating flipping him off and going back to talking to his brats, but he finally nods.  
  
Erwin walks them only a few paces away, not wanting to inconvenience Levi, and apologizes.  
  
“Levi, I’m sorry,” he says, eyes locked on Levi’s. “I’m sorry for what I said and I’m sorry for not talking to you about what happened.”  
  
Levi searches his face, before he nods. “I’m sorry, too. But Erwin, I’m worried about you. Please talk to me when you’re having trouble handling things. We’re in this together.” Erwin nods as well, and smiles tiredly. He shoots a glance over Levi’s shoulder to where the young hopefuls are clustered together, before leaning down a bit and murmuring a quick “I love you,” and walking away.  
  
Levi smiles softly as well, murmuring the words back at the retreating form and turning to go back to the interns, who are all watching him, eyes wide and overly-innocent.  
  
“What the fuck do you guys want?” Levi grumbles, but he’s still smiling a bit.

* * *

Erwin’s day ends at 10:30pm, but by the looks of it, he’ll only be able to leave closer to 11pm. Sighing, he finishes what he needs to, talking to numerous people and making more appointments than he’s prepared to face in the next few weeks. The quiet of the elevator is a welcome one, and he’s eager to get home. The neurology floor is also quiet, and eerily dark, only a couple of offices still lit. His is one of them, closer to the end of the hall, and when he opens the door, he smiles wide.

Levi is curled up in his chair, knees tucked up against his chest and head leaned against the back. All of his papers are properly organized, and his office is cleaner than it probably ever has been.  
  
“Hey,” Erwin murmurs into Levi’s hair as he kisses the top of his head, and Levi wakes up with a start. “I’m done, let’s head home.”  
  
Levi agrees with a small noise, unfurling himself languidly, and they go about gathering their belongings before they close and lock the office and leave the hospital. They climb into Erwin’s green Prius, driving home in silence, and trudge up the stairs to Erwin’s apartment.  
  
“What do you feel like eating?” Erwin calls out, knowing Levi will hear even if he’s in the bathroom showering.  
  
“Eggs,” Levi calls back, and Erwin makes a half-assed omelet, throwing in ham and spinach and other vegetables, along with as many cheeses as he has.  
  
When Levi emerges from the bathroom, he’s only wearing a pair of loose basketball shorts and smells like Erwin’s shampoo. He gestures vaguely at the concoction Erwin had created.  
  
“What the fuck? You call this an omelet?” he asks, and Erwin shrugs.  
  
“I’m tired,” he says as way of explanation, and Levi shakes his head. Erwin, being the sly fiend he is, quickly changes the subject. “How are the interns doing?”  
  
Levi groans, launching into tales of their screw-ups and achievements, talking about how they’re doing well but not well enough, and Erwin knows it’s all for show, knows that Levi really likes these kids and hopes they succeed.  
  
“What about you? Anything interesting happen to you?” Levi questions, and Erwin shrugs.  
  
“The usual. Had appointments, made appointments, prepared for the surgeries I have at the end of the week, and some patients and nurses flirted with me.” He shrugs again, noticing how Levi has gone rigid.  
  
“What do you say to them?” he asks, and Erwin can tell by his tone that this answer needs to be good.  
  
“I say that I’m already happily in a relationship,” he says with a smile, and it’s the truth. “I’m not leaving you, Levi, you needn’t worry so much.”  
  
Levi nods slowly, and continues eating, clearing away their dishes when they’re done and running the dishwasher.  
  
That night, Levi makes sure to leave some choice bite marks along Erwin’s neck, and Erwin can’t help but be filled with overwhelming love for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first thing we've written together for this fandom. Thanks so much for reading! 
> 
> Come say hello on Tumblr if you'd like! [Here for idontreallyknowok](http://marcobodttt.tumblr.com.) or [here for courageandcheer](http://combeferree.tumblr.com/)


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